Selected again as the venue for the Classic Rock Society's Rotherham
Rocks autumn festival, Oakwood Centre was fitted up for a weekend of fine
music from established and emerging bands. Saturday night's bill included
Nice Beaver, Tantalus and the Miv Cameron band as support for headliner
Iona. With four entirely different sounding bands, it was a superb evening for
those that attended. Miv Cameron's band was perfectly placed right before
Iona. Lights and sound systems were typical of CRS gigs--dramatic lights
highlighted the artists' individual and group performance while sound was
powerful and engineered well, albeit a bit boomier than the night before.

Fronted by lead vocalist Joanne Hogg, Iona's line-up includes Dave
Bainbridge (guitars, keyboards), Troy Donockley (uillean pipes, whistles,
guitars, backing vocals), Phil Barker (six-string bass) and Frank Van Essen
(drums, violin). Jo also played keyboard and acoustic guitar in several
of the numbers. The band is extremely cohesive despite two of the key
members living far from the other three and their outstanding live
performance is a testament to their talent and extensive career working
together.

The Rotherham Rocks 2002 concert was the third stop on a brief UK tour
that included venues in Hartlepool and Birmingham on 17-18 October respectively.
They are presently promoting a new box set entitled The River Flows
(review) which features remasters of
their first three albums plus a CD of all new material and a lovely booklet
full of photographs that chart Iona's history. The band have two stops on
the continent in the final months of 2002 and plan to write their next
studio album in 2003. An in-concert DVD is also being discussed.

After the instrumental "Woven Cord" which opened the set, the audience
was treated to Joanne's stunning vocal performance of "Wave After Wave,"
both tracks from Open Sky. As the set developed, the band were
given an extremely warm reception and the audience were rewarded with
over 90 minutes of incredible music primarily drawn from their last two
studio albums. Jigs and reels featured only in the box set were also
performed to the audience's delight and provided a source of humour
between Joanne, Troy and outspoken fans.

With the individual tracks of the set ranging in length, tempo and style,
highlights included progressive epics, including the three-part "Songs Of
Ascent" and timeless classic "Encircling." Equally enjoyable were the
band's progressive and rocking treatments of traditional Celtic jigs
and reels as well as more accessible tunes including "Irish Day" and
the heartfelt "Open Sky." Reaction to Jo's long-sustained vocal notes
in "Revelation" included applause and cheers in the midst of the number.
A top vocalist in every dimension, she combines a dramatic stage presence
with evocative delivery and demonstrates clarity, range and power second
to none. Her keyboard and guitar performances add a significant dimension
to the live sound.

Troy Donockley's virtuous talents, highlighted on uillean pipes, whistle
and guitar and Dave Bainbridge's guitar solos and keyboard stylings drew
significant attention as did Frank Van Essen's drum and violin playing.
Iona again demonstrated their ability to engage each person in the audience
not only with the power, melody and delivery of their music but with their
stagecraft. The band evoke a feeling of happiness and togetherness in their
playing and draw the audience into their music. It is unique to
Iona; their long-standing commitment to the music and their craft is
evident and the audience reaction showed again that it works.

Correspondent Stephen Lambe adds, "Having been overwhelmed by the
band's early recordings released on their recent boxedset, I was
expecting Iona to deliver a good performance. However many things
surprised me. Firstly, I was not expecting the relaxed nature of
the performance, with band members bantering easily amongst themselves,
with the superb Troy Donockley especially vocal in his humorous
'promotion' of the new box set. Joanne Hogg, too, seemed very relaxed,
and I warmed quickly to her down-to-earth manner, as well, of course,
to her quite astonishing voice, best exemplified by a spine-tingling
version of "Wave After WQve" from Open Sky."

"As to the musicians themselves, well you get a suggestion of the
virtuosity on display on CD, but live they are quite astonishing. It
is the unison playing between Troy's Uillean pipes and Dave Bainbridge's
guitar that is most impressive, especially on "Woven Chord", where
Dave's intricate lead guitar is quite breathtaking. Troy, too, is not
just a virtuoso on pipes and whistles, he is a marvellously useful
musician, also contributing some well placed mandolin, slide and
e-bow guitar, as well as some effective backing vocals.
A special word, too, should go to clever bassist Phil Barker and
the splendid Frank Van Essen, who's intricate yet powerful drumming
contrasts delightfully with his sensitive violin work."

"Contrasting their longer atmospheric pieces like "Songs of Ascent"
and "Encircling" with jigs, reels, and more song orientated material, this
was a superb performance that will linger long in the memory."

The main set drew to a close with the performance of "Castlerigg" and
a collection of reels from the new box set. Following thunderous applause,
they returned to play "Bi-se I Mo Shuil (Part 2)" which is sung in Gaelic.
The conclusion of the spiritually powerful track concluded Iona's performance.
Fans of the group were treated with brief periods of artist interaction during
the tear-down process. Iona always makes time for those that are moved
by the music and this evening was no exception. Each and every one of the
band's catalog of recordings is a must listen but this band must be
seen on stage to fully appreciate! We won't wait another five and a half
years to see them again.